Tim Tebow says reports of back injury are overblown

Florida QB Tim Tebow spoke for the first time Monday about rampant speculation he was being held out of practice with a back injury, and said he’s amused at the whole situation.

He said the biggest concern with the constant speculation is his family.

“First thing is mom and dad,'' Tebow said. ‘Everything okay? Yeah mom, I’m fine. Everything’s good.’ I think it’s funny. More than anything, it makes people worry, people that are friends of the family (asking) ‘Is Tim okay? Yeah, he’s okay.’’

Tebow said his back has been sore, but pointed out he’s played with a broken leg, finger and a shoulder injury all last season. He said he would not have practiced much in live situations last week anyway, reminding everyone that lots of starters were held out including LB Brandon Spikes, RB Brandon James and RB Jeff Demps.

“I get treatment,’’ it’s pretty good, just over-worked, over-playing, over-training,’’ Tebow said, adding this generally happens this time of year. “It’s about that time when you just need to easy it up, get ready for the season and stop training so hard. Tone it back a little bit.’’

Tebow said he played all of last season with pain in his shoulder, after injuring it in the season-opener against Hawaii.

He said offseason shoulder surgery has him feeling the best he has in a long time.

"It's more comfortable than it was last year or in the year before,'' Tebow said. "It's just so much easier now. I can take hits and smile, not grunt now. That will be nice.''

UF coach Urban Meyer said he's often not aware of how much pain Tebow may be enduring.

"I don’t ask him anymore because he’s not going to tell me,'' Meyer said. "Mickey (Marotti, strength and conditioning coach) is the guy he talks to so I’ll get all the inside scoop from Mickey.''

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